LED Fun facts 

Article from: ambientlightingcorp.com/lighting-details/led-fun-facts


Mosquitoes and other bugs don’t buzz around LEDs

If you turn on a regular old fashioned light at nigh you will instantly become a magnet for bugs. LEDs don’t have the same effect on the insect population.  This is because LED bulbs do not emit wavelengths in the UV spectrum which is what the bugs are attracted to.  Think of the old bug zappers with the blue lights, a.k.a and infrared bulbs.

LEDs mimic natural light
LEDs operate in the color temperature range we call “Pure White” (5800 to 6200 Kelvin) providing Full Spectrum Light that is the closest thing to natural sunlight without the harmful UV rays.

LED lights help you to keep food fresher for longer.

LED lights do not emit ultraviolet rays and that is why they are better options for supermarkets, restaurants, and kitchen lighting. However, other light sources, natural and artificial, emit UV rays. Ultra Violet rays decrease nutrient levels in foods. In addition,LED lights do not give-off heat, keeping food fresher for longer.

The highest temperature good quality LEDs will reach is around 131 degrees compared with Halogens which get to more than 734 degree

LEDs don’t get hot

The highest temperature good quality LEDs will reach is around 131 degrees compared with Halogens which get to more than 734 degree

LEDs don’t create harmful ElectroMagnetic Fields

LEDs operate on DC (Direct Current), meaning electric current flows in one direction only, creating a static electromagnetic field (EMF). Static EMFs are not linked to the health issues associated with AC lights and appliances.

LEDs don’t get hot

The highest temperature good quality LEDs will reach is around 131 degrees compared with Halogens which get to more than 734 degree

LEDs don’t create harmful ElectroMagnetic Fields

LEDs operate on DC (Direct Current), meaning electric current flows in one direction only, creating a static electromagnetic field (EMF). Static EMFs are not linked to the health issues associated with AC lights and appliances.

LEDs have been around for a long time

The first LEDs were infrared. They were
developed in 1955. White light LEDs were not developed around 1995.  The regular light bub was invented in the 19th century

LED lights help you become a safer driver

Thinking about how it does that. LED headlights have a higher color temperature, which improves the vision of the driver in low-light conditions. Also, the amount of blue light in LED, aids with peripheral vision.

LED stands for Light Emitting Diodes

They are actually not bulbs.  An LED is a semiconductor diode. It consists of a chip of semiconducting material treated to create a structure called a p-n (positive-negative) junction. LEDs have no filament or moving parts, making them extremely durable and low maintenance.

The Future of LEDs

The Future of LEDs

LEDs continue to get brighter, more efficient and cheaper. Some predict a 2 or 3 times improvement in efficiency and brightness before the decade is over with significant price decreases. Whether these predictions are true or not remains to be seen, but what is certain is that millions of dollars are being invested in this technology every year ensuring a bright future for LED technology.

The future of household lighting will soon be the wide spread adoption and use of white energy efficient LED light bulbs. Though the present market for finished white LED products is geared mainly towards enthusiasts and early-adopters, the efficiency and cost effectiveness of LED lighting systems will drive demand for more affordable LED lights. Opto-electronics is an exciting area and we predict, that in the near future, white LED lighting applications will be powerful and cheap enough to replace incandescent lighting for everyday use in our homes, in street lights, outdoor signs, and offices.
Advantages of LED Lights

The operational life of current white LED lamps is 100,000 hours. This is 11 years of continuous operation, or 22 years of 50% operation. The long operational life of an led lamp is a stark contrast to the average life of an incandescent bulb, which is approximately 5000 hours. If the lighting device needs to be embedded into a very inaccessible place, using LEDs would virtually eliminate the need for routine bulb replacement. 

There is no comparison between the cost of LED lights vs. traditional incandescent options. With incandescent bulbs, the true cost of the bulb is the cost of replacement bulbs and the labor expense and time needed to replace them. These are significant factors, especially where there are a large number of installed bulbs. For office buildings and skyscrapers, maintenance costs to replace bulbs can be enormous. These issues can all be virtually eliminated with the LED option. 

The key strength of LED lighting is reduced power consumption. When designed properly, an LED circuit will approach 80% efficiency, which means 80% of the electrical energy is converted to light energy. The remaining 20% is lost as heat energy. Compare that with incandescent bulbs which operate at about 20% efficiency (80% of the electrical energy is lost as heat). In real money terms, if a 100 Watt incandescent bulb is used for 1 year, with an electrical cost of 10 cents/kilowatt hour, $88 will be spent on electricity costs. Of the $88 expense, $70 will have been used to heat the room, not light the room. If an 80% efficient LED system had been used, the electricity cost would be $23 per year - there would be a cost savings of $65 on electricity during the year. Realistically the cost savings would be higher as most incandescent light bulbs blow out within a year and require replacements whereas LED light bulbs can be used easily for a decade without burning out. 

Our white LED lights currently come in packages which contain 36 or 48 LED lamps and can be adapted for use with any power supply or casing. Our clusters allow for conversion to operate from all common caving batteries, e.g. FX5/Kirby pack down to two AA cells, in case portability is needed. We have produced a seven-LED cluster light source as an alternative to low wattage light bulbs and a possible portable light source. 

The main limitation to the adoption of white LED lighting as a lighting standard is the current high cost of led bulbs. Although the cost keeps going down, LED light bulbs are still expensive. A single AC bulb (17 LED), replacing a 25 watt incandescent, will cost about $40. Although LED's are expensive, the cost is recouped over time and in energy cost savings. Factor in that it is significantly cheaper to maintain led lights, the best value comes from commercial use where maintenance and replacement costs are expensive. Traffic lights and outdoor signs, for example, are being switched over to LED's in many cities. Smaller arrays, such as those in flashlights, headlamps and small task lights are great for specialty and outdoor use. LED based automotive headlights are current being used in high end luxury cars.

It will be interesting to see what developments are coming for more residential applications of LED lights. LED lighting technology has been researched and developed for the past two decades and we are beginning to see practical applications from this work. There is already wide spread use of LED traffic signs and LED headlights where a premium is placed on a reliable light source that is cheaper and less labor intensive to maintain. We in the industry are certain that tomorrows LED lights will last longer and consume even less power than todays energy efficient led light bulbs. LED lighting will be used to replace virtually every type of light, bulb, and lamp that is currently in use. 

Some advantages of LED Lighting

Basic advantages of LED Light

• Energy efficient - LED’s are now capable of outputting 135 lumens/watt
• Long Lifetime - 50,000 hours or more if properly engineered
• Rugged - LED’s are also called “Solid State Lighting (SSL) as they are made of solid material with no filament or tube or bulb to break
• No warm-up period - LED’s light instantly – in nanoseconds
• Not affected by cold temperatures - LED’s “like” low temperatures and will startup even in subzero weather
• Directional - With LED’s you can direct the light where you want it, thus no light is wasted
• Excellent Color Rendering - LED’s do not wash out colors like other light sources such as fluorescents, making them perfect for displays and retail applications
• Environmentally friendly - LED’s contain no mercury or other hazardous substances
• Controllable - LED’s can be controlled for brightness and color

Why LED's are chosen for many applications

• LEDs are ideal for use in applications that are subject to frequent on-off cycling, unlike fluorescent lamps that burn out more quickly when cycled frequently, or HID lamps that require a long time before restarting.

• LEDs can very easily be dimmed or strobed.
• LEDs light up very quickly. A typical red indicator LED will achieve full brightness in microseconds.
• LEDs mostly fail by dimming over time, rather than the abrupt burn-out of incandescent bulbs
• LEDs, being solid state components, are difficult to damage with external shock, unlike fluorescent and incandescent bulbs which are fragile.
• LEDs can be very small and are easily populated onto printed circuit boards.
• LEDs do not contain mercury, unlike compact fluorescent lamps
• Disadvantages and challenges in using LEDs

LEDs are currently more expensive, price per lumen, on an initial capital cost basis, than more conventional lighting technologies. However, when considering the total cost of ownership (including energy and maintenance costs), LEDs far surpass incandescent or halogen sources and begin to threaten compact fluorescent lamps.
The Chart Below compares different light sources based upon the life of the bulb and the electrical cost at 10 cents per kWh (kilowatt hour). Note: fixture costs and installation costs are not included.

LED performance largely depends on correctly engineering the fixture to manage the heat generated by

the LED, which causes deterioration of the LED chip itself. Over-driving the LED or not engineering the product to manage heat in high ambient temperatures may result in overheating of the LED package, eventually leading to device failure. Adequate heat-sinking is required to maintain long life. The most common design of a heat sink is a metal device with many fins, which conducts the heat away from the LED. For more information on this, refer to the Thermal Management tab.
LEDs must be supplied with the correct voltage and current at a constant flow. This requires some electronics expertise to design the electronic drivers.
LED’s can shift color due to age and temperature.  Also two different white LED will have two different color characteristics, which affect how the light is perceived.

LEDs were first used for signal lighting, such as in a dashboard and later in tail lamps. In the past few years several companies have developed high power LEDs which are extremely bright and can now be used in applications that require a high light output, such as street lighting and task lighting. These are often referred to as "lighting class LEDs."